Just days ahead of the iPhone 3G’s release, Google has introduced yet another new version of Google Talk application made especially for the iPhone and iPod Touch user, designed to run solely through Safari browser without any need for software download or installation, giving you text chat access to all your Google Talk contacts.
All an iPhone customer has to do is point out their safari browser to www.google.com/talk, to use the web application.
According to a blog post late yesterday from Google mobile team software engineer Adam Connors, fascinated iPhone users simply hastened to www.google.com/talk, sign in, start chatting with friends.
“We have tried to keep the design as faithful to the desktop experience as possible, so it should be familiar to you,” Connors wrote. “You can select from a quicklist of the people you contact most, search your contacts, and manage multiple conversations.”
The web application has all the uniqueness of the regular Google Talk that is available for the Desktops and Laptops like changing their status, searching for contacts and talking to multiple contacts.
To make use of the program, you need but visit www.google.com/talk within Safari on both iDevice, and your list of contacts is displayed, as is your status (be it online, busy, invisible etc).
Simply tap a contact and you will be taken into the chat room. Tap on the box at the bottom of the screen next to a small send button and the iPhone keyboard pops up, letting you type your message.
You can tap on a “down arrow” to set the message to “off the record” if you wish. But as a web app, you need to have Safari loaded and have the Google Talk window active if you want to communicate with other Google Talk users.
When you are not logged into the Google Talk app your status is changed to “unavailable,” and will be restarted when you return.
Already there is speculation Google might launch the software as an iPhone 2.0 application so that it can take advantage of the iPhone notifications that substitute for programs running in the background.
“In addition to transmitting your friends Gmail messages from your iPhone, you can now chat with them while you are on the move, too!” Connors said in the blog.
Besides, the application does not require any software to be installed or downloaded. Rather, it works within the phone’s browser, allowing users to simply log onto www.google.com/talk, sign in, and start chatting.
Connors mentioned that there are a few differences when using Google Talk on the iPhone versus a computer. For one, to receive messages, the application needs to be open on the Safari phone browser. When users navigate away from the Google Talk window in the browser, their status is set to “unavailable.”
Another major anxiety is Safari’s propensity to randomly clear pages; this can cause the users to experience difficulty in having a continuous conversation over a long period of time.
To give the best Google Talk services to the users of iPhone, it is best that Google should come out with a real time IM application made for the iPhone.
Yet, Google Talk for iPhone has created some market speculation as the web application is considered to be the beginning of the end of text messaging. It is strongly assumed that the increasing rates of text messaging will be offset by users opting to talk through Google Talk instead.
That said Google has tried to keep the experience close to what users experience on their desktop or laptop computers. They can select contacts from a quick-list, search contacts, and manage conversations.
With half the world’s population soon owning a cell phone, the opportunity to reach more people on the Web via a mobile device is huge. Google recognizes this as a big advertising opportunity. As a result, the company has launched several initiatives to make sure it gets a piece of the action.
It has already adapted its Web search, mapping service, and advertising tools to work on cell phones. And it even bid in a U.S. auction of wireless spectrum to help ensure rules requiring open access on those networks were achieved. The company has even gone so far as to develop its own mobile operating system, known as Android, to ensure that its applications and services are tightly integrated into mobile devices.
AT&T subscribers looking to save a few extra dollars per month could combine GTalk and the integrated free AOL Instant Messenger client to chat with friends rather than pay for the AT&T SMS plan. AT&T will offer iPhone users SMS messaging plans at $5 for 200 messages per month, $15 for 1,500 messages per month, and $20 per month for unlimited texting. Other new IM programs will be released next week through the iPhone Apps Store. Meanwhile, Google Talk is free.